The video game industry has become large and important, and has spawned many innovations in both software and related hardware. Various hand-held video game controllers have been designed, manufactured, and sold, for a variety of game applications. Some of those innovations have applicability outside of the video game industry, such as for controllers of industrial machines, defense systems, robotics, etc. Virtual reality (VR) systems are an application of great contemporary interest and rapid technical advancement, both within and outside of the video game industry. The controllers for VR systems have to perform several different functions, and meet strict (and sometimes competing) design constraints, often while optimizing certain desired characteristics like ease of use, etc.
One example objective of controllers used in VR systems is to mimic natural interactions, such as grasping, throwing, squeezing, etc., as much as possible. Various types of sensors have been utilized in an effort to meet this objective, including, among others, the force sensing resistor (FSR), which uses variable resistance to measure an amount of force applied to the FSR. However, existing controllers with FSRs tend to exhibit fairly crude response curves (e.g., Force vs. Resistance response curves) due to the materials used in their construction, making them useful for little more than a binary (e.g., on/off) switch. This is undesirable in VR systems. In addition, mylar-based FSRs require a header connector that is large and bulky, which means that the FSR consumes a large footprint, is difficult to miniaturize, and cannot be directly soldered to other components. Yet another drawback of using mylar in the construction of an FSR is its inability to tolerate the high temperatures of a reflow oven, which limits the ways in which manufacturing costs can be reduced for mylar-based FSRs. Instead of using mylar for the bottom substrate, it is also known to construct a FSR with a printed circuit board (PCB) as the bottom substrate. However, PCB substrates also exhibit crude (and sometimes non-monotonic) response curves, rendering these types of FSRs unsuitable for VR applications. Hence, there is a need in the art for an improved controller design that may improve VR systems and/or better facilitate user operation.